Get rid of McDonald's in the Parks

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Not to get off topic here, but I'd just like to contribute an "amen" in response to this paragraph.

Im a fat b'stard, its nowt to do with fast food, I dont eat it. Its down to the fact that I eat too much (all be it things that are healthy)for the sedatery life I lead. It didnt help that I was pumped full of steroids as a kid but I cant blame anyone for my willingness to put work before exercise.

 

[The Mak]

snip monstrous rant

tl;dr

(I never thought I'd ever bust this out on these boards.)

Edit: also people should be complaining about DVC kiosks before McD's fries being sold in teh parks. McDonalds fries stands are much less intrusive than the DVC kiosks (cases in point: GIANT DVC Kiosk in Tomorroland, 2 DVC Kiosks in Future World in Ecpot, 1 of them right near the Epcot logo in the pavement, ugh).

 

[HauntedPirate]

IcicleM - Bravo!

Browniebee - I second the 'Amen'.

If you get your facts about what you eat from the media, you need to do some real research. Most of what's on the shelves in the grocery store contain things far worse for you than what you'll find in McDonald's fries (which I love, BTW). Even the produce, which is supposed to be "good for you" is sprayed with pesiticides, ripeners, and other chemicals both while being grown and after harvesting. Seriously, fries are the least of your concerns. The movie "Supersize Me" is a farce - look at the guy's diet before he started eating at McDonald's for 30 days. It should not surprise anyone that his body had the reaction it did.

I'd really love to quote Abe Simpson, regarding the original post, and it contains a 5 letter word that starts with 'b' and ends with 'itch', repeated three times... It really makes me believe that there are millions and millions of people who have been fooled to believe that fast food is horrible for you when compared to the chemical-laden items that are readily served to people on a daily basis.

 

[JCrane]

I think the main agument, originated at the very start of this thread, is the image McDonalds portrays. It's an equally, if not bigger corporation/brand than Disney itself, yet not quite as wholesome! I have to say that I, for one, can't quite get on board with seeing the' golden arches' scattered around the World...there's just something unsavoury about it. But, as we ALL know, money talks and, as reported, Disney has nothing to gain from this venture than 100% profit. In which case, it works for them.

That doesn't prevent me from feeling that seeing fries stands etc in and around the parks takes something away from the magic but the simplest reaction to that is to just ignore it. Get you're kicks elsewhere...as somebody has already said...it's a BIG place! Obviously there is a demand for it and people are free to make their own choices...

I don't think that their fries are any better or worse than most of the fast food alternatives within Disney. But once you're in there, you have little choice other than to conform.

Maybe it has more to do with the 'Supersize Me' movie or endless reports and investigations since then but there is something about McD's that leaves a bad taste in mouths. We can all lament Disney for the vast amount of corporate tie-in's; Coke, Kodak, Siemens...but hopefully, and with my very highest hopes, any profit made will be churned back in making the parks even better!

Until then, McD's fries stands are just something we all have to learn to live with...

 

[pacochran]

You think about it, it's just really about choice. They are not forcing you to buy the French Fries. They're not forcing you to buy any of the food that's in the parks, you have a choice. Granted with all the advertising that McD's does and you have little kids they will probably bug you till you buy them if they see them. I think it's just I feel the more choices you have the better off you are.

 

[pintraderpayee]

This thread is full of sad humor:lol: I can't really comment because I live in a state that once belonged to France, has one of the highest obesity rates in the South and contains numerous McD's

 

[PurpleDragon]

I have not read every single reply in this thread but, I just have one thing to say about the whole McDonalds presence in the parks. Those who don't think there is anything wrong with McD's, go watch the movie "Supersize Me". It will change your whole outlook on McD's and the entire American Fastfood market.

Yes McD's is a world wide icon, but it still doesn't excuse the fact that they serve a product that literally poisons its clients soley for profit, which IMO goes completely against the values and atmosphere protrayed in the WDW parks. Products like Coke and Kodak film in no way do this, they offer a product that does not harm people in the way that fastfood does.

I myself do not eat any sort of fastfood at all, nor do I think it should be offered on every street corner and in every major amusement park in America. Having a fastfood cart in an amusement park is the same thing as having a guy selling Cigarettes/Cigars. Its a disgusting habit that should not be encouraged IMO.

 

[shoppingnut]

I like McD's french fries and prefer them over the gross disney ones any day of the week. If I want to buy them, that is my choice, and I have bought them and their flurries in the park as a snacks. McD's fries and flurries are a great combo. I prefer soft ice cream, so the flurries work well for me. I'm so sick of people telling me, oh you shouldn't eat that it's bad for you, who care, I want it, I enjoy it, it's my money, so mind your own business. No one is forcing me to buy their stuff, I choose to buy it. And if they ever sold a burger in the parks, I'd buy that before I'd ever buy a disney burger which I'd have to be starving before I'd even consider it.

Disney's association with McD's has benefitted them greatly, don't be mistaken that this was a one way street, it was two ways and both sides came out ahead.

If you can't control your own food choices, no one is to blame but yourself.

The McD's menu in Asia is geared towards what will be eaten by that customer. Do you actually think people here want rice instead of fries or a soybean burger. I know I don't. Just because they have different menu's elsewhere doesn't mean the same think would work here, if that were the case, they'd sell beer like they do in Germany. I can just see MADD group now in an uproar over that one.

 

[banimall]

They need to add a Big Mac cart. I love those things. Nothing would beat walking through Frontier Land eating a Big Mac with special sauce falling all over the ground.

 

[CoffeeJedi]

We've been round and round on this a million times, and i've made my points very clear in another thread, but i'll throw it out again.

Sidestepping the health issues entirely, as we're on vacation and healthy eating isn't on my list of priorities. Personally, i find McDonald's food in general to be poor quality. Their fries are actually pretty good, but their burgers are tasteless, and any flavor comes from piling them up with cheap-tasting low-quality toppings. For fast food, i'd rather drive a bit further out of my way, and pay a buck more for Hardee's (Carl's Jr.) where they use better quality ingredients, and the meat is actually Angus beef. And from what i recall, I think the burgers at Pecos Bill's were pretty dang good (granted, its been a few years since i ate there, the quality may have taken a downward turn since).

But moreover, i just don't like the pervasive smell of fried food in a theme park, and maybe its psychological, but i think that McD's smells more strongly than Disney's own offerings. I also don't like getting taken out of the Magic by seeing McDonald's and Kodak logos or DVC kiosks out in the middle of things. I understand the need for sponsership, but i wish it was more unobtrusive.

 

[shoppingnut]

I think the burgers at Pecos Bill's were pretty dang good (granted, its been a few years since i ate there, the quality may have taken a downward turn since).

But moreover, i just don't like the pervasive smell of fried food in a theme park, and maybe its psychological, but i think that McD's smells more strongly than Disney's own offerings. I also don't like getting taken out of the Magic by seeing McDonald's and Kodak logos or DVC kiosks out in the middle of things. I understand the need for sponsership, but i wish it was more unobtrusive.

To me the burgers at disney taste like greasie cardboard and their smell makes me sick. I also don't like the smell of the turkey legs, so does that mean they should remove them, no, I just walk a little further away from them so I don't have to smell them.

 

[PurpleDragon]

To me the burgers at disney taste like greasie cardboard and their smell makes me sick. I also don't like the smell of the turkey legs, so does that mean they should remove them, no, I just walk a little further away from them so I don't have to smell them.

I must say you are in the minority if you think McD's burgers taste better than ones served at some of the restaurants in Disney, especially considering some of the sitdown restaurants have hand made high quality burgers. The turkey legs offered in the parks are offered by vendors who are a part of the Disney Co and is a convinience offered by the parks themselves, not an outside vendor, big difference there.

You are obviously one of those people who are completely infatuated with Fastfood and its "convenience". Little do you realize how sickening the stuff is that goes into it and how much you are poisoning your body with that toxic sludge. But by all means stuff your face with it, be my guest. But don't tell me how I should suffer for your convinience, its rather hypocritical. To me the smell McD's fries is nauseating and I avoid the gateway between Adventureland and Frontierland just to avoid that stinky fry cart back there. I understand that Disney chose to have a contract with the McDonalds company, but alot of fastfood is processed animal parts and added chemicals and is literally poisonous. And besides that having fastfood vendors in the parks is no better than hotels and fastfood joints outside Disneyland that irritated Walt so much.I find it offensive that even in a safe haven such as WDW that the drug dealers known as the fastfood industry still feels they should push their poison down my throat.

 

[Tim G]

Mc Donalds: STAY, STAY, STAY!!!!

 

[PurpleDragon]

TBH I would much rather see a fruit/smoothie stand or something. Something that is at least somewhat healthy, and will encourage people to stay hydrated in the hot FLA sun.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I myself do not eat any sort of fastfood at all, .

Good for you.

 

[PurpleDragon]

Good for you.

ROFL well I should clarify that statement, I do not eat burgers and fries and that type of thing. However I will on occasion eat Chick-Fil-A sandwiches as well as a chicken biscuit every now and then. But thats the extent of my fastfood consumption.

I found the last time I tried a fastfood burger it made me terribly sick to my stomach and I felt aweful for the next couple days. Again I feel everyone here should go watch "Supersize Me", its a very good movie and really offers a lot of insight into the fastfood industry and what kind of shorcuts they will take just to make a profit. They are willing to put peoples health at risk by selling a poor quality product with cheap ingredients just to make more of a profit. They add things to their food that are toxic just to make their products "taste better", and they have no regard for the general publics health.

Sorry if I came across rude in any of my previous posts, but I feel strongly about this subject and I feel that fastfood is just as bad as drugs and alcohol, if not worse. Its one of the major causes of obesitey and related deaths in this country and the fact that WDW allows it in their parks is disgusting to me.

 

[DisneyMissy]

I would hate to see them leave. I love McDonald's. I DO NOT eat at McDonald's all the time so please don't think I am a junk food nut. Well I am, if I could eat it all the time I would but I don't. Every now and then I just gotta have some of those fries!

 

[shoppingnut]

I must say you are in the minority if you think McD's burgers taste better than ones served at some of the restaurants in Disney, especially considering some of the sitdown restaurants have hand made high quality burgers. The turkey legs offered in the parks are offered by vendors who are a part of the Disney Co and is a convinience offered by the parks themselves, not an outside vendor, big difference there.

You are obviously one of those people who are completely infatuated with Fastfood and its "convenience". Little do you realize how sickening the stuff is that goes into it and how much you are poisoning your body with that toxic sludge. But by all means stuff your face with it, be my guest. But don't tell me how I should suffer for your convinience, its rather hypocritical. To me the smell McD's fries is nauseating and I avoid the gateway between Adventureland and Frontierland just to avoid that stinky fry cart back there. I understand that Disney chose to have a contract with the McDonalds company, but alot of fastfood is processed animal parts and added chemicals and is literally poisonous. And besides that having fastfood vendors in the parks is no better than hotels and fastfood joints outside Disneyland that irritated Walt so much.I find it offensive that even in a safe haven such as WDW that the drug dealers known as the fastfood industry still feels they should push their poison down my throat.

You have missed my point on a few things. First, I don't like the smell of turkey legs, has nothing to do who makes them, I could care less. Second, I said I'd prefer a McD's burger over those gross disney FF ones. Third, I don't eat burger's at sit downs because there are far better things on the menu and they won't cook my burger rare. Yeah, another thing I have to suffer with because the darn government is trying to regulate the way I want my food cooked. Maybe you should take a hard look at what disney sells in their counter service restaurants health wise, it's not much different than what they sell at McD's.

So your crystal ball tells you that I'm obviously infatuated with FF and the convenience, well you don't know me or anything about me, so don't assume. I am fully aware what goes into this food, so get off your health food horse and let me be, if I want to eat it, I will, my choice. I'm so sick of the health food fanatics telling me what I should and should not eat. Incidentally, I didn't put the fry carts there, so I don't see how I'm causing your suffering.

What irritated Walt way back then, might not today, things are very different and no one could say what Walt would think. Safe Haven, are you kidding me, I wasn't aware that the gates to the magic kingdom were actually the Pearly Gates to Heaven where nothing bad goes on. Disney is a business and they are going to do what is best for the bottomline and if that includes selling McD's fries, it's their decision. You can protest by not buying them.

Fruit smoothies sound great, but I guarantee you there will be lots of things in them that aren't good for you. The dole whip has bad things in it, but people love it.

 

[HauntedPirate]

ROFL well I should clarify that statement, I do not eat burgers and fries and that type of thing. However I will on occasion eat Chick-Fil-A sandwiches as well as a chicken biscuit every now and then. But thats the extent of my fastfood consumption.

I found the last time I tried a fastfood burger it made me terribly sick to my stomach and I felt aweful for the next couple days. Again I feel everyone here should go watch "Supersize Me", its a very good movie and really offers a lot of insight into the fastfood industry and what kind of shorcuts they will take just to make a profit. They are willing to put peoples health at risk by selling a poor quality product with cheap ingredients just to make more of a profit. They add things to their food that are toxic just to make their products "taste better", and they have no regard for the general publics health.

Sorry if I came across rude in any of my previous posts, but I feel strongly about this subject and I feel that fastfood is just as bad as drugs and alcohol, if not worse. Its one of the major causes of obesitey and related deaths in this country and the fact that WDW allows it in their parks is disgusting to me.

You better go read the ingredients list on some of the food you buy in the grocery store. Then, do some research as to what those chemicals that are added, like all the partially hydrogenated oils, enriched flours, high fructose corn syrup, etc. The company making the foods add chemicals to their products to make them taste better, and have no regard for the general public's health.

The movie "SuperSize Me", as I've said before, is a farce. Look at the guy's diet prior to the movie - he was eating a nearly-vegetarian diet. Do you think it's any surprise his body reacted the way it did? No. It's sensationalism, and that sells.

 

[IcicleM]

Even I was partially brainwashed from Supersize Me when I first saw it with my boyfriend. He wanted me to watch it because he was very "eat healthy" meaning no McDonalds, and he said "I think it'll change your view of fast food" and it did, for a time. I didn't eat McDonald's for about a month, but then the craving of the fries took hold of me once more, haha. You WILL NOT immedietely die from eating one box of french fries from McDonald's. Like I said before, know when it's a good time to eat fast food, when it's a food time to eat at a restaurant, and when it feels right for you to make your own meal at home and deside what portions you want.

McDonald's does have lots of power, and Supersize Me tried to take that power away from them, to make them seem like an evil company who didn't care about their customers. And where did the guy get the concept that "IF THEY ASK ME IF I WANT TO SUPERSIZE MY MEAL, I SAY YES" They're ASKING because it's a CHOICE. It's everywhere on the menu that you can supersize your meal, so they're not just trying to advertise it. @_@ They're asking a simple question; would you like to supersize your meal? I mean, come on... @_@

Supersize Me, along with other political documentaries like Bowling For Columbine are all movies that show you that complete negative side of the situation, and immedietely they want to drag the audience to their side, and completely stop the idea of perhaps contemplating making their own decisions for themselves, and maybe even having an intelligent conversation about both sides and coming to an agreement. Me, personally, with all the little political battles my friends are involved in, and trying to tear me from one side to another, like Gay Rights, Fast Food, gun Control, Women's Rights, and blah blah blah, you really really really have to be the better person and not think so close-mindedly. One movie should not be your whole reasoning of your opinion. Many people out there eat McDonald's and are still healthy individuals because they have a good overweighing balance of better foods. Chowing on McDonald's every now and again won't kill you.